Read Online Wicked Release by R. G. Alexander - Free Book Online

think bringing me here to take what you wanted would be the icing on the cake? A grand joke we would laugh about over breakfast?”
    He swore, running his hands through his tangled curls. “No, Sarah, I give you my oath. According to our family’s records, Robert was disowned for his many crimes and stripped of his powers. He died like a dog in the streets shortly after Jackson disappeared. Remember Jackson Abbott? The man who was murdered trying to break your spell.” He reached out to her, his eyes bright with concern. “We come from Fiona’s line, Sarah. Not Robert’s.”
    She didn’t want to hear it. It had all been a lie. Triad. What did that word mean? That someone was given the power to hurt you three times over? “Tell Conway to lower the shield now. Before I do something I regret.”
    Lorie’s hands curled into fists. “Damn it, Sarah, don’t do this. Where will you go? My sister has one book, and we’re still looking for the other.”
    She laughed, but it was no longer a happy sound. “Are you still pretending you don’t know the Winston family? That the Abbotts don’t know the Gryffin’s? Still trying to make me believe you knew nothing about all those innocent women killed during my last Triune?”
     
    She brushed past him and headed for the door, but he wasn’t ready to end the conversation. “We didn’t lie. There are no Winstons. Hell, maybe they changed their name. Jacob is a Gryffin, but we didn’t know he existed until he’d kidnapped Harrison. Their family lived in exile—”
    “A Gryffin kidnapped someone?” She turned to face him, feigning a look of surprise. “And Abbotts are liars who abuse their power? I’m stunned. Tell Conway to drop the shield. Now.”
    He made the mistake of reaching for her hand. Everything that had been inside her before she was freed, all the rage and emptiness, combined with this betrayal and her enhanced feeling of power since their joining spilled out from her into him.
    Lorie’s expression crumpled and he fell to his knees, his hand still on her arm, her palm ensuring it stayed there. Her heart was breaking. She wanted to die as she watched the wound reappear on his forehead, his lip splitting.
    “You’re a healer,” he wheezed. “Sarah this isn’t who you are.”
    She took a deep, ragged breath and sent him a burst of healing light, watching the injuries disappear as quickly as they’d come. Her tears blinded her, but she couldn’t give in. “I’m sorry, Lorie. I’m so sorry. I never meant…I was lost for too long. The power to bind a wound can unbind it as well. It was a lesson I was forced to learn. We can’t be together, can’t you see that now? Even if you weren’t Abbotts we can’t have this. Even if we broke the spell, we can’t be sure I won’t instantly grow old and die…or disappear altogether.”
    He stood up slowly, the pain on his face so profound it shattered her. “If I’d told you, I’d never have held you in my arms. You wouldn’t have let me near you. How can I apologize for wanting all the facts first so I could protect you? For wanting you to know me before you judged me for a distant relations sins?”
    She turned without another word and opened the door. Needing air. Needing a moment to think. Her emotions were overwhelming, the past and the present blurring together. The future impossible.
    She held the blanket close, walking across the large front yard and gazing up at the stars. She’d forgotten how peaceful, how beautiful the night could be. Forgotten how much she’d missed the stars.
    “Don’t go.”
    She didn’t move when she heard Con’s voice. “I can’t, can I? You won’t remove the shield.”
    He sighed. “It’s gone. You’re free, Sarah. We will never hold you against your will. After all you’ve been through, we would never…Just—damn it don’t go . Not before you hear what I have to say.”
    He waited long enough to make sure she wasn’t walking away before he continued.